Dry Creek parent opposes turning middle school into K-8

Philip Wood • The Press TribuneThe Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District board of trustees is scheduled to vote on the closure of Dry Creek Elementary School and transition of Creekview Ranch Middle School into a kindergarten through eighth grade campus on Thursday, Feb. 7.

Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District

What: Board to vote on Dry Creek closure/shift of Creekview Ranch to K-8

The potential closure of an elementary school is often an emotional issue for parents — not only of those students who attend the campus shutting its doors, but of other campuses impacted by the change.

Parent Adrienne Mars is upset about the possible closure of Dry Creek Elementary School in the Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District, and the corresponding transition of Creekview Ranch Middle School into a kindergarten through eighth grade campus. Her daughter attends Creekview, which Mars describes as an “incredible,” state-of-the art school.

Mars urges parents to attend the school board meeting Thursday, when trustees are scheduled to vote on the facility changes.

“We understand completely that Dry Creek students need a new campus … no one is arguing that point,” Mars said.

She said she simply wants more alternatives considered before the proposal is rubber stamped.

“We just want to make sure that everything is considered, and the education of the kid is more important than anything else,” she said.

The historic Dry Creek Elementary School on P.F.E. Road in Roseville may close due to low enrollment and inadequate infrastructure. The campus has the smallest student population at 484 pupils.

Those students would be relocated to Creekview Ranch beginning with the 2014-15 school year. The district would spend an estimated $750,000 to convert Creekview into a K-8, by turning three sixth grade science rooms into kindergarten classrooms, adding two playgrounds, modifying parking lots and other facility changes.

“There are (20) empty classrooms sitting completely unused at Barrett Ranch, Olive Grove and Coyote Ridge elementary schools,” Mars said. “These schools are near many of the Dry Creek Elementary School boundaries and the only cost would be transportation.”

She said when Measure E was being advertised in the district in 2008, proponents said the money would go toward building a state-of-the-art middle school and relieving overcrowding at the district’s other two middle school campuses. She sees this goal as being achieved with Creekview Ranch — and she wants to keep it that way.